This Train Won't Stop

I really, really, really, really, really want to see Eels at 9:30 Club in DC tonight, but work is the priority. Have I done gone and grown up all of a sudden? What happened to me?

That said, yesterday was another revelatory, productive day. Remember that infamous "cathouse" scene I was talking about last week, about how it managed to sneak its way into the film and, in fact, become a vital force? Well, scratch that. After trying for several days to make it work, I realized yesterday that we were forcing it. Less is more. And so it's gone. Unfortunately, so is one of our most intensely dramatic scenes, but we didn't have the goods (i.e., LOGIC--it's a word I've been using a lot lately) to pull it off. And so that's gone too. Again, maybe it'll be in the mix after test audiences throw in their twenty-two cents, but for now, it's too distracting. I take full blame for that, don't worry.

When we get through this thing (by tomorrow?!), it might already be down to 90/95 minutes, which is where I wanted it to be eventually. But if it's there already, then so be it. As much of a mental exercise as editing is, I still feel like this whole thing is mysteriously out of our hands, like the film is becoming what it is with or without our help.

Actually sitting down to watch it all the way through on a big television will be one of the strangest, most exciting things I've ever done. Hopefully it won't lead to a subsequent suicide. For now, I feel confident...